Apparatus for making strand fabric



W. JAMESON. APPARATUS FOR MAKING STRAND FABRIC.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-D1922.

Reissued May 9, 1922.

n11 um 5 l mun ATTOR 40 and in these drawin UNITED fsTAr I-zs I PATENT orr-" c z'e."

mmnmz. comm, or cEIcorEE or mnssncimsn'rrs- To all whomit may concern I Be it known that I, WILLIAM. JAMESON, a

. citizen of the United States of Americar residing at Springfield. in the county, of

.invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Making Strand Fabric,.of which the following 'isa specification.

-Myinvention relates to the manufacture of rubber sheets with strands' embedded j therein, and more particularly to apparatus for making strand fabric. Inthe making of pneumatic tire casings,

1'5 ,commonly'called tires thereis frequently gether to form a sheet of what may be termed strand fabric. I'have devised an apparatus for the manufacture of such materia, and material of similar character.

One object. of myinvention is to provide an apparatus of the character indicated by ;which-'sheets with strands embedded therein may be produced rapidly and inexpensively. Another object is'to provide an apparatus for the manufacture of material of the character indicated, in which material successive strands are embedded in oppositesides of the sheet. i

.To these ends, and also to improve genupon devices of the character indizeral 85 Gated: my invention consists in the following matters-hereinafter described and claimed.

Without restrictingmy invention thereto, I describe it by reference to the apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawings;

Figure 1 is a central elevational section of an ap ratus embodying my invention, the stran supplying spools not, however, being shown in section, but merely in side eleva-' tion; and the depths of the strand-grooves in the pressuig roller -being exaggerated as ocmpared'to ig. 4, and the strands, as fed I by such roller upstanding from the sheet, as compared to Fig. 3, the clearer to illustrate the-invention; v

Fig. 2 is a section substantially o. the line 2-2 .Of Fig. 1, with the strands broken out,

and the strand supplying spools (with the,-

I'ALLS, MASSACHUSETTS, A COBJPOBATIQN nrrnm'rus Ion MAKING smnn rniuc.

- Original Io. 1,827,828, dated January 18, 1920, Serial 110. 268,888, filed December 28, 1918. Application fol" reissue filed January 7, 1922. Serial 1T0. 527,774.

' major portions of their supports omitted) moved toward the calender machine, to save space, and the drivlng means, the adjustable mounting for the rolls, liner drum, and the drum for the product, all beingomitted to avoid confusion; Y I

Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross-section of the fabric produced by the illustrated apparatus .when the parts arearranged for maximum embedment 1 v Fig. 4 is a fragmental view of a grooved roller and a few of the strands; and

Fig. 5 is a side elevation showing the mounting of the calender rolls. -In general, the illustrated apparatus comprises three superposed calender rolls 1, 2 l and 3, these rolls being positively driven, at

such relative surface speeds as desired. Arranged, each at a respective side of the lower 'roll 1, are strand-guiding means .ex-'

.emplified by rotatable elements, or rollers,

4 and 5, each arranged to receive a series of strands, generally-cords, as 6 and 7 from supply means, as the-series of spools 8 and 9. Each of these rollers' is provided on its surface with a series of strand-guiding grooves, as 10 and 11, and the grooves of one roller are staggered with respect to those of the other.

In operation: the stock S of unvulcanized rubber is fed between the rolls 2 and 3 and calendered into a sheet. This sheet is then carried, by the roll 2, between the rolls 1 and 2, andthen wound upon the drum 12.

The strands 7 are fed to the lower side of the freshly formed sheet to liebetween the sheet and the surface of the roll 1. Here they are embedded in the sheet by the pressure between rolls 1 and 2, the exact amount of the embedment depending upon.

the amount of the pressure, which mayv therein to the extent desired. with the drum 12, roll 1 and roller 4 in relat ve positions substantially as shown, a certain embedment of the strands 6 W111 of course occur. But, preferably, and. as shown, the

roller is, arranged to directly cooperate with the roll 1 to press the stock and strands 6 therebetween, and so embed the strands 6.

Again, the roller 4, cooperatingwith the roll 1 acts to supplement the embeddlngaction of the rolls 1 and 2 on the strands 7. The amount of the pressure between the rolls 1 and 4: may be regulated in any desired man ner, as by mounting the roller 4 with an adjustable-journal-block construction 13, for

adjustment to and from the roll 1, foreach' journal.

It will be seen that the illustrated apparatus provides means for embedding strands in rubber in staggered relation, for adjust-* ing the thickness of the sheet, and for adjusting the amount of embedlnent of either 'or both series of strands. By pressing the invention to the use of grooved rollers as a guiding means.

It will also be understood that when it is desired that the roller 1' shall act, not only as a pressure roll'topress the rubber about the strands 7, but also as, a means for pressing the strands 6 into the sheet, the grooves 10' aredesirably, and as illustrated (Fig. 4) of any desired less depth than the diameter of the strands,

As to details: The machinecomprisesjhe upright frame members 14,14, in which are rotatably mounted the rolls 1, 2, and 3, the roll 1 being driven inany suitable manner I V conventionally indicated by the pulley 15 and the rolls 2 and 3 receiving motion from the roll 1 throu'ghthe gears 16, 17, and 18. The frame members also rotatably support the rollers 4 and 5 and the drum 19 for the supply. of liner "20 to lie between the layers of the finished [fabric wound upon the drum 12. The drum 12 may be driven at decreasing speed as the diameter of the fabric increases,;in any suitable manner; as by the pulley 21. The standards 22, 22, and '23, 23 at each side of the roller-carrying frames 14, 14 rotatably support the spools 8 and 9.

Asindicated in Fig. 5, the means formov ing the rolls 1 and 2 relatively toward and from each other, and the means for .similarly relatively moving the rolls 2 and 3 may comprise a system of adjustable journal blocks (dupllcated at'each side of the machine) for carrying the,rollsk1, 2, and 3: I Theblock 24, carrying the roll 1, the block 25-, carrying the roll .2,'andthe block 26, carrylngthe roll 3, are vertically slidably mounted. in the frame 14:; Between the .pensate for the .cated, in com mation, a pair of cooperating blocks and 25 and between the blocks 25 and- 26 is inserted ,a vertically-slidable and sidewise-adjustable wedge block 27 or.28,

each withits upper and lower surfaces inclinedtoward each other. The blocks 24,

25 and 26 have their surfaces in contact with the blocks 27 and 28 inclined cooperatively with the surfaces of the blocks 27 and 28.

These latter blocks can be adjusted sidewise by screws 29. By moving the block 27 to the right (Fig. 5) the distance between the rolls 1 and '2 will be increased and vice versa, and similarly with the block 28 and rolls 2 and 3. Different diameter gears, to comdiiference in distance between the rolls may of course, be substituted as desired. Also the surface speeds of the rolls may be determined as desired. As illus: trated, roll 2 has a higher, surface speed than roll 3, thereby'to refine the stock and also .has' a higher surface speed than roll 1, thereby to work the stock somewhat into the V strands. But, any other feasible speed re-* lation, as equal speeds, may be resorted to by merely changing the gears, as Wlll be understood.

It will be seen that I have provided an apparatus for the production of sheets with strands embedded therein, andmore particularly for the production of cord fabric with a set of cords embedded in each face, with the cords of one set staggered with'respect to those of the other set, and with which production can be carried on expeditiously and satisfactorily. V a

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

'1. In an apparatus of the character cated,in combination, a seriesjof cooperating rolls, certain of said rolls bein arranged to' produce a sheet and certain of said rolls being, arranged to'receive and pass said sheet therebetween, means to feed a series of strands between one of said latter named rolls and said sheet, means to feed a indiQ A secondseries of strands to the other side of named strands, and means to vary. the pressure between said sheet-producing rol1s,sub-.

stantiallyas described.

2. In an apparatus of the character indisaid sheet in staggered relation to the first tween them, a third calender roll forre ceiving the freshly-worked sheet from the first-named rolls, means for sulpplying 118- f tween the sheet and the third ro aseries of spaced strands, means for supplying to the other side of the sheet a second series of strands spaced so as to lie opposite the lntervals between the'first series, and means for pressing both series against and. into the freshly-worked sheet. 3. In an a paratus of the character indiwith such roll to press a second series of strands into the other side of said sheet in staggered relation to the first named strands, and means for varying the pressure exerted by said last named means; substantially as described.

4. In an apparatus of the character indicated, in combination, three contiguous and coacting pressure rolls, one contiguous pair of. said trolls being adapted to roll stock into sheet form and the other contiguous pair be 7 ing adapted to press the so-formed sheet therebetween, means to feed a series of strands between said second named pair of rolls and to one side of said sheet, and a roller arranged to feed another series of strands to the other side of said sheet, said roller being arranged in cooperative pressing relation to a roll of said second named pair to feed said second series of strands to 35 said sheet with the strands of such series in rolls coacting to work out a sheet of rubber between them, a grooved roller constructed and arranged to contact with the freshlyworked sheet to guide thereagainst a series of parallel strands, and means to force the strands into the freshly-Worked sheet.

6. In an apparatus of the character indi cated, in combination, mechanism for working-rubber into sheet form, a smooth surfaced roll arranged to take the freshlyworked stock from said mechanism, and

means for supplying to the sheet on said roll a series of spaced parallel strands, said means including a grooved roll arranged sufliciently close to the said smooth surfaced roll to guide the strands so that they Will contact with the sheet of rubber in spaced relation substantially corresponding to the spacing of the grooves in the grooved roll.

7. In an apparatus of the character indicated, in combination, three contiguous and coacting smooth calendar rolls, one contiguous pair of said rolls being adapted to roll stock into sheet form and the other con-' tiguous pair being adapted to press the soformed sheet the'rebetween, and a roller having circumferential grooves to receive a series of parallel strands and constructed and arranged to guide and press said strands into the rubber sheet on one of said rolls.

8. In an apparatus of the character indicated, in combination, a pair of cooperating smooth calender rolls arranged to receive a sheet of material therebetween, a roller having circumferential grooves to receive a series of parallel strands and cooperating with one of said rolls to press said strands into one side of said sheet, and means for varying the pressure exerted by the grooved roller.

9. In an apparatus of the character indicated, in combination, three contiguous and coacting smooth calender rolls, one contiguous pair of said rolls being adapted to roll stock into sheet form and the other continguous pair being adapted to press the soformed sheet therebetween, and a roller having circumferential grooves to receive a series of parallel strands and arranged to feed said strands to one side of said sheet, said roller being arranged in cooperative pressing relation to 'a roll of said second named pair.

10. In an apparatus of the character indi-- cated, in combination, mechanism for working rubber into sheet form and for supporting the sheet so produced,.and means for supplying to the sheet as supported a series of parallel strands, said means including a member presenting a curved surface over which the cords pass and arranged substan tially in contact with said su porting means.

WILLIA J AME SON. 

